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I meant in English Departments, of course, Josephine. In my first year at Southampton, not one of the English Dept postgrad seminars was devoted to poetry, and the rest of literature was easily outweighed by film and theory (much of which could not accurately be described as *literary* theory). The word 'body' or 'bodies' seemed to be in the title of every paper (transgressive bodies, political bodies, economy of the body etc), to the extent that I was beginning to think the subject should be renamed Anatomy. As for tattooing, I have nothing against it except that I wasn't planning to study it (and it sounds painful). It does get into _Moby-Dick_, after all. Best wishes Matthew ----- Original Message ----- From: "Printmaker" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2001 11:57 PM Subject: Re: an academic point > Matthew Francis wrote: > > > > Overreacting slightly? First, I'm an academic myself. Second, my partial > > agreement with Josephine's remark was hardly meant as a serious attack on > > the profession, more as a pleasantry. (If you want evidence of academics > > stating the obvious it shouldn't be hard to find.) Third, I have sat through > > a seminar on supermarkets at Southampton University, and though I haven't > > sat through one on tattooing (inscribing the body, as I think it's > > technically called), there was a paper on the subject in a postgraduate > > magazine while I was doing my Ph.D. there. I do think it's regrettable that > > less attention is paid now to literature and more to other cultural > > phenomena, but I wasn't spoiling for a fight, and I'm amazed you seem to > > think I was. > > > > Best wishes > > > > Matthew > > Oooops! Sorry guys. > > I just so happen to have an honours thesis in my inbox; > Subject: contemporary tattoo. > So I might bow out of this one. *chuckle* > > But I am tempted to write a paper on colour theory - "the > sky is blue, the grass is green" think how often I would > have to be cited! > > josephine >